Staple and method of driving the same



July 19, 1932. c. B. GOODSTEIN STAPLE AND METHOD OF DRIVING THE SAMEFiled Jan. 19. 1929 BY M ATTORNEY WIFIIIEII 1 wmyw Patented July 19,1932 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE f CIEABLES B. GOODSTEIN, OF BROOKLYN,NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR I OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

srarLE AND METHOD or DRIVING 'rnn sum.

Application filed January 19, 1928. Serial R'o. 838,701.

' My invention relates to staples for secur- 'i'ng together sheets ofpaper, cardboard, fab.-

rics and various other materials, and to a novel method of driving thestaples. Sta-' 5 ples have been widely used for securing paperstogether. and also for securing various other kinds of materials andthere are various machines on the'market for driving and applyingstaples. As far as I am aware such 0 machines are-divided into twogeneral classes, those of. one class having, in addition to the meansfor driving the staples, a lower member or anvil'with which the driving.plunger cooperates, the anvil serving to turn or clench the staplesafter they have passed through the material which is being stapled.Another class of machine is that in which the driving means is employedwithout a base or anvil, in which case the staples have been drivenstraight into the inaterial'a'nd have not been clenched. This type ofmachine, commonly called a tag machine, is generally used for tackingtags onto boxes, ireight cars, etc., for

tacking curtain materials onto the curtain rollers and in various-otheruses where'the staple does not have to be clenched. With the first ty eof machine it is not possible to apply stap es to a closed box becauseit is not possible to get the anvil inside the box to complete theclenching operation. In the second type of machine, or tag machine,there 'is no part used for clenching the staple.

The object of my invention is to provide a .staple and to provide amethod of drivin the same which will permit staples to be driven throughmaterial from one side only and to cause the staple to clench afterassing through the material. By employm the present invention it ispossible to sta e to-' 40 ether the flaps or the cover and body o boxesymeans of a devlce which will operate en-' ti-rely from the outside ofthe box. It is,

therefore, possible to staple flaps or other.

portions of the box after the latter has been 415 closed, becausetheclenching of the staple is To BELLA ooonsra my accomplished without anyanvil or other instrumentality on the interior of the box. As far as Iam aware, this is the first instance Where staples, have been driventhrough material and clenched by operations carried on from .one sideonly o'fthe material which isstapled. The staple forming the subject ofmy invention is so'formed that when it is driven under the control-ofdevices on one side i of the material the prongs of'the staple arecompelled to not only pass through the material being stapled, but tobend in such man- In addicause thesta le cannotbe removed from acontainer'wit out showing marks indicating that the package hasbeentampered with.

Once the staple has been applied, that is,

driven through the material andclenched' on a closed. container, accesscannot be had to the interior of the container to unclench the sta le. l

he only wa the staple can be removed is by forcibly pu ling it out ofthe material of the container and this will partially destroy thematerial and show that the package-has been tampered with.

In the drawing forming part of this applicatio n,.

Figure 1 is a vertical, sectional view showing the tools employed in.driving staples in accordance with the present invention,

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a portionof a strip of staplesembodying my invention,

Flgure .3 is a verticahsectional view showing the staple in position tobe driven with the toolsapplied and ready for the commencement of thedriving operation.

Figure 4 is a similar view showin the staple driven through the materialan under oing the clenching operation,

igure 5 is a. similar view showing the staple at the completion of theclenching operation,

Figure plied and the tools withdrawn,

Fi ure 7 is a perspective view of a modified Orin of staple stripembodying my invention,

Fi ure 8 is a view similar to Figure 3 but showing the staple ready tobe driven withut the member for supporting the center of the staple,

Fi ure 9 is a view similar to Figure 8 but showing the staple completelydriven, and

Figure 10 is a sectional view through a container showing the stapleapplied.

I will first describe the form, of my in vention shown in Figures 1 to 6inclusive.

In this form of the invention I have shown the staples formed of sheetmaterial and arranged in close parallel relation to constitute a stripfrom which the individual staples may be removedas they are driven. Theindividual staples in this strip may be held together by any of themeans now employed for holding staples in strip form in connec tion withthe plain staples in general use; that is, by applying a coating ofenamel or similar material which will secure the individual staplestogether at their edges with suflieient tenacity to enable the staplesto be handled as a strip until they are driven.

Each stapleconsists of a preferably fiat plane central portion-1 fromwhich extends upwardly at each side an arched orcircular portion 2,these circular portions being adapted to form the pron s or legs of thesta le. ee endsof these are ed to form pointed. ends for piercing thematerial. Preferably' thesepointed ends terminate about in thesainehorizontal plane as the lower surface of the middle portionsv 1 of thestaples. v a

In driving this form of staple the tools shown in Figures 1 to 6inclusive, may be used. These consist of a vertically moving plunger 4which serves toedrive the staples and this plunger reciprocates in thebore of a sleeve 5. There is a. small member 6 which forms a temporarysupport or anvil under the middle portion 1 of the staple and thismember is movable laterally as it is to be withdrawn from the staplebefore the clenching operation has been completed. Where the material tobe'stapled has a hard surface into whichthe central portion of thestaple will not sink too far, the anvil member 6 may be omitted so thatthe T central portion of the 6 shows the staple completely ap-.

stapled.

The staple strip is fed onto the anvil member 6 as shown in Figure 3 byany suitable feeding mechanism, such as is commonly used in stapling mahines, so that the fiat, intermediate portion 1 of the sta le rests onthetop surface of the anvil niem er 6 above the material which is to bestapled.

In Figures 3 to 6 I have shown two sheets 7, 8 of cardboard orcorrugated board lying face to face, and these may be stapled togetherby operations carried on from one side of the sheets. These sheets maybe overlapping flaps of a box, as shown in l igure- 10, which could nototherwise be stapled because n prevlous practice an anvil had to be usedon opposite sides of the sheets to the plunger. Assuming that the staplehas been ed onto the support 6, as shown in Figure 3, the archedportions 9 of the staple project at 7 each side and rest against or nearthe inner surface of the sleeve 5 which is in reality a die member. Theplunger 4 which lies above the staple is now moved downwardly inorder topress downwardly on the upper portions 9 of the arched prongs. As thispressure is' applied b the plunger, the staple has a tendency to eflattened as the plunger presses on the top of the arches 9. The centralportion of the staple cannot descend be cause it rests on the support 6.The free ends of the prongs of the staple cannot spread because they areconfined by the die member 5 in which they are enclosed. As the plungergoes down, therefore, as shown in Figure 4, the prongs of the stapleunder the action of the plunger and under the cooperating action of thedie member 5 first pierce the sheets 7, 8 of the corrugated board,

and then continue in a circular direction, so that the rongs, afterpassing through the sheets of? corru ated board, move toward each other,as shown in Fi re 4. About this time andbefore the top of the staple,

that is, the portion remaining on the outside surface of the corrugatedboards, becomes fully flattened, the'member 6 is withdrawn laterally.

The plunger continues its downward mo- 2 tion, as shown in Figure 5,sothat theportion of the staple 10 above, the corrugated board isfinally flattened against the latter the operations of driving thestaplethrough the corrugated boards and of, turning or clenching theprongs inside the same arev carried out by operations performed entirelyon one surface of the material which is'stapled.

off the strip leavin or the flange and the body of a box, the oper-',erformed ations above described may be after the box or carton has beenlled with the contents and closed. Theshape of the staples, togetherwith the tools employed, cause the prongs to pierce the material whichis being stapled and to clenoh without the use of an anvil on theopposite side of the material to that of the p unger. I

In Figures 7, 8 and 9 I have shown the staple strip somewhat modified,so that the under support 6 referred to in the previous description neednot .be placed as previously described, In this 'form the staples areformed as a strip with a continuous connecting piece or back member 11similar to Staple strips heretofore in use. The prongs 12 in this case,however,'are' arched, the same as in the first form, and have their ends13- pointed, but there is aspace between each pair of prongs indicatedas slots 14 in Figure 7, so that an individual staple maybe out plesconnected by t e longitudinal member 11. v

In this case the intermediate portion or rib. 11- of the staple will besupported on a bar similar to the manner in which the staplesare fed inthe present types of machines except that where the-member 6 remainsun-.

der the central portion of the staple until the latter is partly driven,this member will only 9. Inother words, the o with those first descri Vso support the staple strip, leaving the end staple which is to bedriven projecting beyond the support. In this case the staple will bedriven by the lunger 4 and the die. member 5 the same as efore'but thecentral portion of the staple will be supported while thepron s arebeing driven throu hthe corrugate' board, by the 'backemem er orrib 11until the pron have been driven through the corrugatedfioard and theclenching operation has been partially completed, so that theportionllof the strip' 'ust behind the endmost staple will be cut 0 just beforethe staple reaches the condition "shown in Figure rations correspond dexcept that the temporary support 6 does not project under the staplewhich is being driven but only under t e rib lljust behind this staple.The invention, as far as the product is concerned, consists of thestaple or strip of staples having an intermediate portion on each sideof which is an arched prong, the prongs being adaptedto be bentdownwardly toward the plane of the central portion so that the prongsaresimultaneousiy passed through the material to'be stapled and areclenched on the inner side. In so far as the method is concerned, itconsists of driving a staple through the material by operations per--formed entirely onone side of the material for the purpose of causingthe prongs of all the remaining stathe staple to pierce the material andclenoh on the reverse side.

Having described my invention, what I claim is: v

1. A method of driving staples, consisting of applying pressure to astaple having arched prongs to flatten a portion thereof on one side ofthe material and confining the lateral positions of vsaid prongs tocause them to pierce the material to be stapled and to clench on theunder side thereof, said several x operations being performedexclusively from a portion thereof on one side of the material and tocause the'prongs to pass through the material bein stapled, andlaterally guiding the prongs o the staple from the same side of thematerial that the driving force is applied, to cause the prongs of thestaples to clenoh as they pass throughthe material.-

3. A method of driving staples consist ing of applying pressure to astaple having arched prongs, said pressure being appliedin a directiontoward the mater al to be stapled and simultaneously providing abutmentsto preventthe lateral spreading of the prongs of the staple while saidpressure-is eing applied, to cause the .prongs of the u staple to piercethe material and to'clench on the opposite side thereof while thatportion of the staple to which pressure is being applied is beingstraightened against the material, said several operations being per-mformed on one side of the material which is being stapled. Y 1

4. A method of driving staples which are formed with an intermediateportion and with prongs extending atxarched shape from the oppositesides of said intermediate portion, which method consists of applyingpressure to the arched prongs of said staple, simultaneously supportingthe under side of said intermediate portion of the staple, said pressurebeing applied in a direction toward the material to be stapled, andsimultaneous-' ly providing abutments'to revent the lateral spreading ofthe prongs w le said pressure is being applied, tocausethe prongs of thestaple to pierce the material and to clenoh on the o posite sidethereof, said several oper v ations. eing performed all on one side ofthematerial which is being stapled.v

5. A method of driving staples, consisting of applying a staple to amember to be pierced thereby, said staple havin prongs extendingupwardly from the mi dle portionof the staple and thence downwardly inarcuate shape, and applying pressure to the prongs. of the staple toflatten portions thereof against one side of'the materialbeing stapled,causing the prongs to 'pierce the materialand'the arc uate portions ofthe prongs to pass into the material in arcuate paths by reason of thesaid straightening action of portions of the prongs, whereby said prongswill clench automatically when 5 driven, sald operations being performedexclusively from that side'of the material from which the-prongs enterthe same. 7 Signed at the city, county, and State of 0 New Yorkthis 7thday of January 1929.

1 a CHARLES B. eoons'rnm.

